Hello and thanks for taking the time to visit my site! I have been working in the counseling/therapy world for around 12 years. I have had the opportunity to work in a variety of settings – child welfare, substance abuse, inpatient psychiatric care, community mental health, and corrections. This has given me a wide variety of experiences, and really shaped who I am today and how I view things.
In my counseling work I gear sessions towards whatever works best for the client. This could include using some CBT techniques, working on coping skills, mindfulness training, or talk therapy. Some individuals prefer a very structured environment with goals and worksheets, and some clients prefer a safe place where they can talk freely about whatever is on their mind.
I have a wide range of interests and things I am passionate about including trauma, mindfulness, addiction recovery, and helping those who work in high stress environments. My goal is to educate you and help you have a better understanding of the problem and how to work through whatever hurdles life throws at you.
Please feel free to reach out with any questions, and thanks for being here!
Why Private Practice?
Private practice is something that I had been thinking about doing for a couple of years now, and this year I decided to make it happen! There is SO much going on in the world – the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 100,000 drug overdose deaths during the 12-month period ending in April 2021, a 28.5% increase over the prior year. Deaths of despair (drug overdose, suicide, and alcohol related deaths) are the fastest rising death rates among Americans and have been averaging 70,000 per year over the past two decades according to Anne Case and Angus Deaton, two Princeton economists. Rates of addiction and mental health diagnosis have been climbing, and the numbers continue to rise. Over 400,000 children are in the foster care system in the US (www.adoptuskids.org). The United States has the highest number of incarcerated individuals worldwide (www.statista.com). The world has changed tremendously, and people are hurting and stretched to their breaking point. This is why I am here. Many of these things weighed heavily on my mind and it occurred to me that I have a set of skills to help people – so why am I not doing that? This is what Jackie Thompson Counseling is about – doing my part to help people heal and to hopefully do some small part in improving the world we live in.
I strive to live a life of purpose, and this is one way of doing that. In addition to taking on a
small caseload of clients, I will be writing a regular blog as well. Here I will post topics related to
mental health, leaning heavily towards some topics I am passionate about, such as trauma, mindfulness, and addiction. I will also be devoting time to the helpers – corrections, EMT, police, firefighters, military, medical professionals – I’m talking to you! These are fields exposed to high amounts of trauma and vicarious trauma and these professionals receive very little in the way of recognition or help. Many of these individuals are unaware of how the trauma they have experienced on the job is impacting their lives and how they interact with loved ones. My goal is to educate and hopefully serve as an outlet for anyone who would like to get some assistance in working through their job-related stress.
That is all for now….stay tuned for upcoming topics and feel free to reach out with any
questions!
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” – Fred Rogers
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